Quick-thinking sisters rescue grandfather

Jill Murtha, 11, and her sister Madison, 8, like many of the things their classmates do at Bethel Lutheran in Morton. They like to color, play outside and dress their cat in doll clothes. But in an emergency, they put that childhood on hold — which their mother says saved their grandfather’...

Jill Murtha, 11, and her sister Madison, 8, like many of the things their classmates do at Bethel Lutheran in Morton.

They like to color, play outside and dress their cat in doll clothes. But in an emergency, they put that childhood on hold — which their mother says saved their grandfather’s life.

Three days every week, they make an after-school trip to visit their 68-year-old grandfather, who has Type I diabetes and lives alone in his nearby Groveland home.

When he’s feeling well, they share snacks or watch old Westerns together, but on a recent afternoon the girls found their grandpa on the floor suffering from dangerously low blood sugar.

“He was acting really weird and slurring his words,” Jill said. “I think (his blood sugar) was super low. It was in the one-digit numbers.”

The girls responded like professionals.

They armed themselves with Nutty Bars and orange juice to help boost his blood sugar and held him upright so he could swallow without choking, then delivered the important information to their mother over the phone: Grandpa was conscious, breathing and able to speak.

“Sometimes when they show up, they don’t know what they’re walking into,” said their mother, Jovie Murtha. “They’ve got to be mature beyond their years.”

The most recent incident was Sept. 21, but not the first time they’ve saved their grandfather.

“They’ve saved his life several times in different ways. It’s almost like God’s using them as an instrument,” Jovie said. “They will just randomly want to go for a walk, or a bike ride, or go see (their grandpa’s dog) Gideon and we’ll go to grandpa’s just randomly, and he’ll be in a bad state.”

Their grandfather, Jovie’s father, has been treating his diabetes for more than 50 years with insulin and has a service dog, but he has an episode two or three times a year, family members say.

“He’s very well controlled,” Jovie said. “But sometimes he gets a little too low if he doesn’t eat or if he takes too much insulin, so that’s when he gets in trouble.”

Jovie has taught them if grandpa can talk, they can help him, and if he can’t speak they need to call 911.

“We know to call somebody or give him his (glucose) tablets,” Jill said.

Jill said walking in to see her grandpa struggling or unconscious makes her feel sick, too.

“I get a tingle in my head,” her sister said.

But they put those feeling out of their heads and go from carefree children to lifesavers in the blink of an eye.

Laura Nightengale can be reached at 686-3181 or lnightengale@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauranight.